“History is written by the victors.” ― Walter Benjamin
The quote is commonly misattributed to Winston Churchill. Maybe it wasn’t even a quote by Benjamin, but by a loser smoking a Marlboro, who knows? Who cares? In the Philippines, where poverty rules, history has hardly a room. There are victims, rather than victors. There are vested interests, rather than things interesting.
Who are the VICTORS? Who are the VICTIMS?
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Economic conditions went south in the aftermath of EDSA1, the popular uprising against Ferdinand Marcos (FM). Today, poverty is statistically at 25%, half of which are below poverty line. Based on surveys, half of the population consider themselves poor. 24/7, our very senses do not just give us statistical figures, but hard evidence of victims. They are victims of a system, which history has engendered. If there are animals such as victims of history, we have been mass producing them since 1986; doesn’t it look that way?
The system after EDSA1 is seen as a contributing factor to the pauperization; yet, there is no move to redress it. Only the Philippines, among the ASEAN countries, has not met the MDG targets set by the United Nations for 2015 in the elimination of the figures representing those below the poverty line. It is dismal.
The irony is that right after EDSA1, Filipinos felt like victors; they deposed a dictator. They called the uprising People Power: it was a watershed in Philippine history, and they were proud, they wrote history. Today? Only a fortunate few could honestly say they are victors. The country could not deny it is a basket case, and the victims are wondering if they even wrote a page in history. If they wrote it, how could they write themselves into being victims? Could victims, not just victors, write a history?
THE POINT?
There was a rebellion alright, and it is a fact. The mere fact that there was an uprising by the people does substantiate the fact that FM did something terribly wrong. Niccolo Machiavelli, a political philosopher noted for his very astute observation of human nature, wrote in his masterpiece, “The Prince”, that people are normally passive, decent, and quite indifferent to power unless agitated or provoked. They are not troublemakers. It is those who hold power who are troublemakers for they have the means to pursue their ambitions. A ruler would have to do something terribly wrong in order to provoke his subjects to revolt.
A troublemaker was booted out. If that is a fact, a chapter in history should have closed, or attempts should have been made towards an immediate closure in order for the country to move on. Thirty years after the event, that attempt, if there was, remains to be seen. With inequality in the society ever so widened, a growing number are wondering what was the point of the hullabaloo. What indeed was the point?
What is interesting is that people did People Power a second time. EDSA2. Was it an improvement over EDSA1 because it seemed to have resulted in closure? Or, does it seem only that way because Marcos, sins and all, looms larger than Joseph Estrada? Or, did it confirm a lesson that should have already been learned in EDSA1? Gloria Macapagal Arroyo turned out to be a cure worse than the disease; was she? If she was, what indeed was the point of EDSA2? For that mstter, EDSA1? Or, is it about, who gives a fig about EDSAs, people are tired, if not averse to them now? Or, have they finally realized they are victims of such events? Victims of history?
As said, few benefitted from EDSA1 — and EDSA2. In the last five years alone, 60% of the GDP just went straight to the Top One Percent, facilitated by Daang Matuwid (Straight Path). To emphasize: yes, a straight path to the pocket of the few. The majority are like fools who could only compete for crumbs. Accordingly, suggestions have surfaced that maybe that was the original intent of EDSA1. Could it have been a well-planned event by powers-that-be, rather than a spontaneous uprising?
Defenders of EDSA1 call the idea preposterous; it was a people’s revolt against an autocratic rule, why should that be doubted? But, if there are today voices of regrets that they helped and participated in both EDSAs, that should also be understandable, if not justifiable. What indeed was the point of EDSA1?
MARTIAL LAW
FM was of the age of autocratic rule, the Zeitgeist vis-a-vis communism. Societies feared a domino effect in Asia as the ideology spread its reach, attracting varying groups and individuals, mostly of covert nature, who had all kinds of grievances against Establishments. There were already the genocides of millions by Mao Zedong in Communist China and by Maoist Pol Pot in Cambodia. The horrors of communism were real, and it had to be contained. In a pre-emptive move, FM resorted to a strong man rule as did Indonesia’s Suharto, Malaysia’s Mahathir Mohamad, Singapore’s Lee Kwan Yew, and South Korea’s Park Chung Hee.
In September, 1972, FM declared Martial Law (ML), which lasted up to 1981. By 1986, communist threat was no longer a primary concern, and it might have been because ML minimized it. But, EDSA1 claimed that FM used communism as false justification to declare ML; his real motives were political, and his thirst for power was the driving force. Indeed, ML allowed FM dictatorial powers, and EDSA1 asserted that FM had to go because of allegations of plunder and crimes against humanity. “Absolute power corrupts, and it corrupts absolutely.”
If EDSA1 was all prepared to accuse FM of succumbing to the snares of absolute power, they weren’t, however, prepared to immediately fill the big vacuum that was created by his drastic ouster. In the 20 years of FM rule, political power was consolidated and concentrated. In his absence, there was an absence of how power should be understood and handled. It was a vacuum that could be exploited by the unscrupulous, and it was allowed to be exploited. Greed set in. Justice which should have allowed a closure to the chapter started fading into the back-burner.
Obviously, ML stunted the development of leaders. Was that its legacy? Or, was that its faults, apart from the many faults of the dictator it created?
THE MARCOSES
The Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), the commission that was created to recover whatever was plundered during the ML years, became themselves subject of investigations. Whatever happened to those investigations is anybody’s guess now. But, these were cases of plundered wealth being plundered the second time around by the very people assigned to recover them. The PCGG became a secretive group when it wanted to.
Yet, ignoring if the PCGG had become shady or not, pundits are asking the Marcoses to voluntarily return whatever courts have not yet been able to recover. Isn’t that like asking somebody to be stupid? No question, if justice has to prevail, there has to be retribution, and the Marcoses can’t be exempted. But how is that possible under prevailing conditions when goodwill might not only be not appreciated, but be seen as a stupid manner of hanging oneself?
On top of that, they are now asking Bongbong Marcos to apologize on behalf of his parents. How could one ask a son to go against a father? Isn’t that like asking him to be un-Asian, when Asians are so family-oriented? Is that a way of advancing the cause of EDSA1, if it had a noble cause? Or, is that admitting EDSA1 was nothing more than a simple power grab?
A REVOLUTION?
How could we therefore continue to call EDSA1 a revolution? There was no paradigm shift. There was no change in culture. There was no change in the manner of doing things. Worse, the 1987 Constitution seems a cure worse than the disease, if one considers what has transpired. (Please refer to MidwayHaven’s excellent article, Why the Current Philippine Republic Needs to Die) For one, political parties are inutile. They are no longer the filters that could churn out only the best and the brightest. Thus, politics lost its vestiges of dignity. It has become the marketplace for low lives and the ambitious without principles.
EDSA1 is the same cruel political power just changing its outward appearance. If it was naked power before, it is today about disguised power, still pernicious, if not more for it is deceptive by its very character. If today there are disgusting scandals coming from BS Aquino’s KKK, it is because there were already scandals from the beginning coming from Cory Aquino’s Kamaganak, Incorporated.
It is in every way what Ilda wrote in In just 6 years, Noynoy Aquino’s record of failure is now worse than all of the Marcos years. Whatever noble aspiration there was in EDSA1, if there ever was one, was overtaken by events. Or, as already asked, was it simply a power grab? Could it have been a well-planned event by powers-that-be, rather than a spontaneous uprising? Could that explain why there are more collateral damages? There are more victims of history than victors; was this something they expected?
While other Asian nations had a gradual transition from autocratic rule to democracy, Philippines was the only one where the change was drastic and dramatic. Most Asian countries, including Communist China, are now tiger economies; the Philippines degenerated into a feudal system, a system proving to be worse than what it changed. It thrives on complexities; simplicity and transparency are its enemies. The deception is simple; it is found in the mantra: nothing can be worse than Marcos. With that, they promoted complacency at all levels of the society. That could also explain why justice is in the back-burner.
As a natural consequence of the foregoing, or by design, FM is already painted as someone unique. True, FM would have had his own style in the way he ruled, but there is a risk of exaggeration if he was considered alone and outside of the context of the era and the geographical region. The fact is that he was not much different from his contemporaries. Actually, if he was a monster as they like to paint him, he was no worse a monster than, say, Suharto, whose rule is said to have been responsible for a million of killings and disappearances. FM’s uniqueness was that he was removed from power abruptly; the others, except for Park Chung Hee who was assasinated, were all able to resign at the time of their respective choosing.
THE YELLOW COLOR
In the 21st day of the month of Au-ghosts in 1983, Ninoy Aquino was assasinated by a Rolando Galman, or by another ghost; the issue has not been resolved. Ninoy was not supposed to be welcomed not by bullets, but by yellow ribbons. Ninoy was supposed to be that ex-convict coming home in Tony Orlando’s song “Tie a Yellow Ribbon.”
Whether Ninoy was killed by a ghost or by a Rolando, the point is that there was gaping wound in the national consciousness; a terrible injustice had to be explained, and emotions were high. By the 22nd day of the month of Feb-awry in 1986, Cardinal Sin went on air via Radio Veritas and called for people to converge in EDSA, and the response was emotional and immediate as the injustice had not yet been explained. It remains unexplained to-date.
EDSA is the circumferential highway around Manila that is now notorious for its daily bladder-busting traffic, a daily reminder of the decay after EDSA1. How ironic! How disrespectful if they hold EDSA1 as something hallowed. History seems of no value.
Starting that fateful day in 1986 and for four days, there was a standstill traffic of people with various reasons and perspectives for being there. Quickly, barbecue stands and other pop-up food stores appeared as well on the highway. The ambulant vendors by the next day were not just selling food, but yellow T-shirts printed with: “Filipinos are worth dying for.” So, there were also those who were there just curious to see if there were really those who were going to die as the T-shirts said. History didn’t go the way to prove if the T-shirt was true.
There was a fiesta atmosphere, for sure. That provided enough of a human shield to protect General Fidel Ramos, Minister Juan Ponce Enrile, and a company of 300 or so of Army men, holed up in Camp Aquinaldo. Like Aguinaldo, during the Spanish time, the two were discovered for planning a putsch that went awry. As Plan B, they had to hightail to the camp to hide from the dictator’s wrath. With millions of people in the way, the dictator quit his wrath, and nobody died. As said, the T-shirt was neither proven true nor false that day. What was proven; the dictator, whom they keep on portraying as a monster, didn’t have the heart to slaughter millions; that, in spite of his General Ver who seemed to have that kind of monstrous heart.
The putschists were not ex-convicts, for no court could ever convict them, but the August Twenty One Movement (ATOM) surrounded the camp with yellow ribbons. By virtue of that, the putsch that had no yellow shade in it ended up as a yellow revolution; it became a Cory revolution. How did an unsuccessful putsch of Ramos and Enrile end up proclaiming Cory? Many have been the attempted answer, but all seem incomplete. That would be typical Filipino; historical narratives are incomplete and vague.
However, if EDSA1 is not a revolution, but just a power grab, as discussed above, WHAT DOES YELLOW STAND FOR?
When will it end that we are electing Presidents who are future ex-convicts? Erap is an ex-convict and that is why he has been welcome by the Yellows. GMA is not yet an ex-convict, so the Yellows have not yet accepted her They know now that PNoy is a future ex-convict, but they knew so he has been a yellow a long time ago.
IN RETROSPECT
To be simple about it, it was people sympathizing with Cory. If there was injustice against Ninoy, there was more injustice against Cory. The steadfastness she showed in the face of tragedy was admirable, and people saw power in it and on one who was close to political power, but was not interested in it. It was the Cory Magic, and there was no way the dictator could win against the force that that magic created in the imaginations. History was being made, and the widow was having her revenge on perceived and real persecutors. It was a romantic history, and there was kilig factor to it, and people bought it. There was emotion ready to be utilized.
ATOM utilized it and organized it; EDSA1 was underway. They elevated her revenge story into a higher plane, EDSA1 was about democracy. It was not just for and about Cory, it was for the people, by the people, and of the people. Unfortunately, after EDSA1, people forgot the democracy part, or never understood the responsibilities demanded by democracies. So, it turned out to be only about revenge, and It was a revenge consummated, so the kilig dissipated. And the power vacuum we talked about earlier was underway. Justice was furthest from the minds of all until today when the son of the dictator is finally knocking at the doors of power also demanding justice. In the meantime, justice for PNoy is only about revenge and vindictiveness.
And we are back to the questions, except in an expanded manner: Who are the VICTORS? Who are the VICTIMS?
ATOM, the yellow color, the T-shirts, and the slogans gave a clue that there was something pre-planned about EDSA1. Who were the planners? Were they from the highest levels? Were they from within or outside the Philippines? Did they know there were going to be victims? Did they care? Did they know the uprising was gonna end up radioactive for the victims? Why did they call the front group ATOM?
The Americans told FM that day it was game over. They picked him up and his family in their helicopter. The Marcoses ended up in Hawaii. With his exodus, people, feeling like victors, ransacked Malacañang Palace, while there was a celebration in the White House; democracy was restored to a former US colony.
It looked like the Arab Spring of yesteryears, though there was nothing Arab about it nor was it spring. Philippines doesn’t have spring, but it has four seasons nonetheless: warm, warmer, warmest, and wet. To keep up with the current lingo, maybe EDSA1 should just be called Filipino Warm. Arabs look like losers after their Arab Spring. Filipinos look definitely like losers despite their Filipino Warm.
Still, Filipinos are proud of their Filipino Warm, whether it was a real revolution or not. What is important is that it was peaceful. It does not matter if it changed nothing. It just had to remain yellow. When in 1989, the Berlin Wall collapsed peacefully and Lech Walesa successfully revolted peacefully, they said these must have been in the pattern of the Filipino Warm. The problem? Germany and Poland didn’t end up as basket cases in Europe; the Philippines did in Asia
Again, are they are seeing the recent protests in Hong Kong and Malaysia as having the pattern of Filipino Warm for they are in yellow? It remains to be seen whether they will carry their protests to logical conclusions, and we wonder if they will also find out that being yellow may not be about a revolution. Or, do they already know that and are just threatening their respective governments. What could be more threatening than a yellow theme, which has now come to symbolize recklessness?
HISTORY
“A ball is round not square and you may legislate that the ball is square, you might write it into every textbook. You might forbid anyone from referring to a ball as “round”. You might make employees of the state issue documents stating that balls are square. You might change the liturgy of the church to thank God for square balls. You might teach every school child that a ball is square.
At the end of the day, It will still be round.” — D. Longnecker
Historical revisionists will never succeed in the long run. So, any fear about this seems unfounded.
In its editorial, #NeverAgain, dated September 27th, 2015, the Philippine Daily Inquirer worries about this. But even if it was a paranoia, one could understand. The Inquirer was an underground paper during the ML decade; today, it is the number one broadsheet, earning a mountain of money from ads. It is one of the victors.
0ne could not understand why they keep on repeating that the Philippines could return to Martial Law and dictatorship if we don’t watch it. In an age of social media, how is that possible? It would be next to impossible to make ML work. Of course, it is a red herring for they will have to do everything to keep the power within their yellow gang.
We should be glad that there are those who still have better perspectives Please refer to Homobono Adaza’s essay, Yes, never again dated October 14, 2015 at the Manila Times.
But, why should we be interested in the writing of history? One, because we are part of it, whether we like it or not. Secondly, we could influence it as we have in the EDSAs. The problem is that we used to be at the top of Asia, but now are getting used to, in just 30 years, being a bottom-dweller; this has an impact on the culture. The culture now has a built-in architecture that only encourages apathy and mediocrity. It is time we change it.
Victors will refuse history that could be written by the victims as we have just seen. The point is we have permitted the situation and even cooperated with it.
Who are the historical revisionists now? Maybe, it is the victors. If it is not them, why do they fear such things? Is it because they know they have written one that has not been truthful and fair, and thus needs revision? If there is a need for revision, as the ball is round, then it is themselves who have created the inevitable situation, haven’t they?
Who are the victors? Who are the victims? We could dictate the answers to that, if we want to.
GRP Featured Comment hall-of-famer. Former executive of the Far East Regional Office of a US-based multinational company living out of a suitcase covering the market from Tokyo to Mumbai to Melbourne, and all the countries within that triangle. Got tired after logging 300k air miles per year. Now, I just have a little trading biz on specialty chemicals.
idiot aquino followers pasok
Idiot Marcos apologists and loyalists, pasok na.
I am not Aquino or Marcos followers ..In fact I am not a follower of anybody. I am just Filipino American who still cares about the Filipino people. Just like everybody I am wondering why the Philippines log behind in Asia, and most of all why do politicians who have good intentions in the beginning just quit trying and fall in the phrase ..If you cannot change them , Join them and take as much as you can from the country for if you do not steal it , somebody else will…and that became the trend.The love for the country disappear aND REPLACED BY GREED…
Why is it for so many years and for so many presidents, senators and congressmans as well as supreme court justices lost their patriotism and no longer aim their hard work..For the Love of their country……What happened to the Philippines and to the Filipino people.Their hope is slowly dieng..
One must look at the whole picture and compare it to countries who are in turmoil arouind the world and ask yourself, What is going on …Why things are happenning like whats happening right now..and you will find an answere ..Who is benifitting from all of this.
Trace the benificiaries and you will see their connections to all this turmoil.
I have my own idea..and no one can do anything about it.
The demolition job they did to Imelda and Ferdinand was so effective that we were all captured and become prisoners of the lies of 1986. NOW THE WRITINGS ARE ALL OVER THE WALLS AND WE ARE STILL IGNORING THEM.
IMELDA IS A HERO. IT TOOK BILLIONS OF FILIPINOS TAXPAYERS MONEY PAID FOR BY THE CORY ADMINISTRATION TO HIRE SIXTEEN (16) INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC RELATIONS FIRMS BASED IN NEW YORK CITY AND WASHINGTON D.C. TO DESTROY BOTH IMELDA AND FERDINAND.
Here is Imelda Marcos speech at the Manila Hotel when she run for President in the 1998 Presidential Election. “I AM running for the Presidency, because beyond the ultimate end of politics which is justice for all, is because our sovereignty – the sovereignty of our country is in danger. The cory constitution of 1987 surreptitiously deleted the historical legal rights to our territories. And this will endanger our contry. “ says Imelda once more in 1998. Now tell me, who truly cares for our nation?
FILIPINOS IGNORED THE WARNING OF MARCOSES OF THE IMPENDING DANGER IN WEST PHILIPPINE SEA.
I do not agree that Imelda is a Hero. in fact in contrary , Imelda destroys what Ferdinand Marcos accomplished in the Philippines. Ferdinand Marcos, instills discipline when he declared Martial Law with the American support behind him that time. and the Philippines is doing good,, but when Ferdinand got sick , I believed he went to dialysis….then Imelda took over with Gen.Ver and Enrile,s backing.
The fall of a man is sometimes by the woman beside him , like Ceasar and Mark Anthony by Cleopatra.
The corruption in the Philippines started to flourished with Imelda, Ver and Enrile in the lead. they BEGAN TO ACT LIKE THEY ARE DYNASTIES AND with royal blood.. tHE REST IS HISTORY NOW…IT IS NOW THE PHILIPPINES …rich AND famous ATTITUDE BY people in charge..
You are right in the sense that hero may be too strong a word. I would also not use it lightly.
Let us just say that the Marcos couple probably had a better understanding of what nationalism meant. They promoted a Filipino First mentality as in buy Philippine made products, and they tried to put the Philippines in a pedestal wherever they went. Etc etc That is something I would say. Just look at PNoy, have you ever seen him wear a Philippine pin in his lapel? No, it is always this yellow ribbon. A President of the yellow, not of the Philippines.
Integrity and corruption — ah well, that is another topic. Who started corruption? Let me see… I think I better not go into this topic.
See how Imelda refuses to give back the money her family stole from the Filipino people, BRAG ABOUT IT !!!! and have the audacity to say she was a victim,LOL !!!
Yes it’s true…follow the Money as what the economic hit man says…hehehe
Philippines has become like Orwell’s Animal Farm, where nothing changed except the people in power complete with people taking credit for what others did, and twisted the facts for their convenience, for example, I highly doubt that the majority of the people saying NeverAgain knew the roles played by Joker Arroyo, Jovito Salonga, Doy Laurel and many more. Thanks to our media, the only ones celebrated are usually Cory and Ninoy.
As for the demonization of the late President Marcos, if he were truly as evil as the media portray him to be, then Tiananmen Square would have happened here.
@ MMS, UH, IT DID !!! or did you somehow not know that 50,000 people were imprisoned and tortured by the FM regime,countless murdered ? One thing he did not do is kill Benigno Aquino, that was just to make it seem like he did and get FM removed so the economic sanctions the IMF and WorldBank wanted to impose on the country could be instituted.
it will be another 50 years before the Fail-ippine people even realize what happened as Filipno’s are dense,emotionally connected to everything cerebral, and generally none-too-bright.
Right around the time that every last bit of wealth that can be extracted from the country has been extracted. Then the International Masters will let the people have their country back,it will be of no use by then…but they’ll get it back…stripped and rotted to the core.
I would like anyone, to get hold of the book titled: “The Ugly American”, written by Eugene Burdict and William Lederer. It was a bestseller in the 60’s.
There was no EDSA revolution. It was an “imagined revolution”, promoted by the U.S./C.I.A; the Roman Catholic Church; the Oligarchs; the Feudalist (wealthy land owning Filipinos); and some political opportunists, like: Ramos, Enrile, Honasan, etc…
Marcos did not do anything to them; because the powers in Washington D. C., at that time warmed him, of the consequences. Unlike Noriega of Panama. Marcos was kidnapped by the U.S./C.I.A.; and was taken to Hawaii.
The U.S. tried to promote its system of government, to countries. However, they do not understand that country. Like Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. Like the Shah of Iran. The Ayatollah Kommeni, became the powerful(thanks to the Americans); then, he kicked both the Americans and the British out of Iran.
The Shiites in Iraq became the power. Now, we have the ISIS caliphate, persecuting the minorities.
The U.S. tried, again this time to remove Pres. Bashar Assad of Syria. It is now a “stalemate” or deadlock . Because, Pres. Assad of Syria has both Iranian and Russian support.
I finished the reading the book: “The Ugly American”; from my trip from Germany to the U.S.
The U.S. will “dance with the Devil”, just to promote its interests in any country. It does not care of the resulting consequences of that particular country. It happened in the Philippines…it will happen in the future again.
You’re right there bro! This is one great big historical angle that is very real (and filled with international political and historical intrigues) and yet not being touched by the Media, not even by GRP. I’m dying to see to see the day when someone makes a historical documentary movie of this event!
Something similar I’ve read is John Perkins’ book, “Confessions of an Economic Hit Man”.
One may also enjoy the movie, starring Marlon Brando!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056632/
Thanks for the link. Didn’t know there was a movie of it.
My pleasure 😉
You get one puppet regime after another, just accept it. The controllers will not tolerate growth or freedom
Yes, according to revisionist history, the Philippines was a First World country under the Marcoses. FM and Imelda were heroes, but the Aquinos had the supernatural power to hypnotize an entire population to believe otherwise.
Give me a break. According to Lee Kuan Yew, FM sent his finance minister to Singapore to borrow money JUST TO PAY OUR INTEREST PAYMENTS. Get your facts straight! We were not a First World country. The country was on the brink of bankruptcy. Marcos and his cronies benefited a lot from that KLEPTOCRACY.
FM and Imelda traveled on his and hers private jets. They were bathing in luxury. Sure they weren’t convicted…just as there’s never been a single Filipino politician convicted of corruption (except for Erap). But please…stop this non-sense.
The Philippines was never a First World country. The Marcoses were not heroes. THOSE ARE THE FACTS. You may be entitled to your own opinion, but you’re not entitled to your own facts.
We’re not saying Marcos is a hero but we need to refute this false narrative that somehow Marcos was the ‘origin‘ of all corruption in the Philippines. Corruption and dysfunction go way back even before the Spanish came here.
You read it wrong. Corruption did not start with Marcos…Corruption flourished with Marcos and Imelda and became the norm right now…
Now we “are getting used to, in just 30 years, being a bottom-dweller; this has an impact on the culture. The culture now has a built-in architecture that only encourages apathy and mediocrity. It is time we change it.”
hahacienda, every time I read one of your posts I feel dizzy, and that IS A FACT too.
NEWS FLASH: THE PHILIPPINES WAS NEVER A FIRST WORLD COUNTRYY !!!! Currently the country is being looted by the IMF,Wrodl Bank as well as the ‘Kletocrats’ that sit on the ‘National’ seats of power. Senate/HoR/SC. The Fail-ippines is a tragedy,its people clueles.
AND for all the talk about how history has treated FM badly, just wrap your head around the fact that if the writers here at GRP had dared to publish anti-government papers/pamphlets etc etc during Marcos time they would have been arrested and would’ve never seen the light of day again. Many here at GRP like to call Aquino, the jackass, a Dictator. Well, if he was, you would all have disappeared by now.He is just a jackass doing what he is told by the International Masters and then robbing everything that is left over.He is what Negroes in the USA call a ‘Crumbsnatcher’, and thats about it !
Nice article, but you totally disregarded the huge role of the Catholic church. Without Cardinal “Sin” on the radio calling on people to go to EDSA, no one would have gone there. So to call this a “popular” uprising is a bit of an exaggeration, since EDSA Power was just a small percentage of the population. Marcos was still very popular in the provinces. But let us save enormous religious influence on the Filipino people for next time, as I do not want to read bible verses again. Wink wink!
The Marcos Administration, during the 1972-81 martial law period tripled the country’s road network, doubled the electrification of the country’s homes, increased irrigated cropland eight-fold, and achieved rice and corn self-sufficiency. Minimum daily wage rates tripled, although inflation, driven by international oil price hikes and exploding U.S. interest rates, more than wiped out these wage increases. The oil price hike got Marcos thinking about Nuclear power.
But the opponents of Marcos were soon being wined and dined in Washington, by both the right wing (Shultz and Wolfowitz) and the left wing (Rep. Stephen Solarz, Sen. Ted Kennedy, and Princeton’s Richard Falk) of the “Project Democracy” apparatus, which performed the subversive tasks assigned by the synarchist banking institutions. Salvador Laurel, the son of the quisling President of the Philippines under the Japanese occupation, headed the opposition after Aquino’s assassination, and in February 1984, visited Washington, where he was greeted by Vice President George H.W. Bush and Secretary of State Shultz. Representative Solarz introduced legislation into the Congress to abdicate the treaty regulating the U.S. bases in the Philippines, cutting the agreed aid to the Philippines by two-thirds. At the same time, a nest of anti-nuclear and anti-development NGOs in the United States took up the cause of overthrowing the “Marcos dictatorship,” including a gathering of anti-nuclear forces in Manila, including Richard Falk and representatives of the West German Green Party. Stephen Bosworth, a close collaborator of Henry Kissinger, was appointed Ambassador to the Philippines, and from that position he would subsequently orchestrate the coup against Marcos.
Throughout 1985, President Ronald Reagan defended the American relationship with the Philippines and with President Marcos, despite the fact that Secretary of State Shultz and Deputy Secretary Wolfowitz openly disagreed with that assessment, instead demanding Marcos’s head. The crisis came to a head in July 1984, when the U.S. Congress adopted the Solarz proposal to rip up the Bases Agreement, not only slashing the financial commitments, but insisting that the remaining aid be distributed not by the Philippine government, but by the Church, which, under Cardinal Jaime Sin, had openly called for insurrection against the government.
By November, the plans for insurrection were unveiled publicly, as the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), the home of Henry Kissinger and Zbigniew Brezezinski, carried out a “war game” against the Philippines, based on a scenario in which President Marcos is assassinated, Soviet “spetsnaz” commandos join the New People’s Army in taking over the Philippines, and the U.S. military goes into action to “save” the country.
The CSIS’s work in Asia was largely financed at that time by the C.V. Starr insurance empire, run by Maurice “Hank” Greenberg. Greenberg and C.V. Starr owned most of the insurance industry in the Philippines, and a number of Philippine politicians as well, and served as the crucial “on the ground” economic hit man in the Marcos coup.
Marcos continued fighting for the principle of a new world economic order. In November 1985, EIR and the Schiller Institute, the international association directed by Lyndon and Helga LaRouche, invited Gen. Edgardo Mercado Jarrin (ret.), the head of Peru’s Institute of Geostrategic and Political Studies, to tour Asia, promoting the partial moratorium on foreign debt then being implemented by the Peruvian government. In addition to conferences in Thailand and India, General Mercado Jarrin and the EIR/Schiller Institute delegation met with President Marcos in Manila. Marcos told the delegation: “Third World Asian and South American countries should get together and push through the condonation of part of their loans. How can Third World countries pay their loans, amounting to $900 billion?” Marcos estimated that the paying capacity could not exceed $300 billion.
The Aug. 16 EIR (Executive Intelligence Review) published a story entitled “Plotting the Fall of an American Ally,” which reported that U.S. Ambassador Bosworth was plotting a military coup against the Marcos government. The article reported: “Bosworth now meets up to two hours every day with Acting Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Fidel Ramos, a West Point graduate whom the United States is attempting to groomn as a leader of a new civilian-military junta, despite his loyalty to President Marcos.” The story was based on information from reliable sources both in the Philippines and in Washington, where certain patriotic layers within the government, intelligence, and the military did not accept America’s transformation into an imperial power serving the synarchist financial interests.
The EIR exposé forced a public denial by General Ramos and by Ambassador Bosworth. As events proved, the warning was deadly accurate.
Marcos was finally coerced by Washington into calling new elections for February 1986, even though the Constitution mandated elections only in 1987. The opposition, in constant coordination with U.S. Ambassador Bosworth and the Shultz State Department, chose to run Aquino’s widow, Corazon Aquino, as the Presidential candidate, with Laurel for Vice President.
As still seen today in such neo-con-controlled “people’s power revolutions,” such as in Georgia and Ukraine, U.S. intelligence agencies financed and controlled the “citizen” electoral monitor organization, the National Movement for a Free Election (Namfrel), and prepared to declare “vote fraud” if the election did not go the way intended. Paul Wolfowitz in November 1985 told the U.S. Congress that there would be a “complete collapse of political confidence” if the elections were not perceived as “fair”—i.e., if Marcos were not defeated.
Indeed, on election day, the opposition was ahead in the early returns from Manila—which was expected—and Aquino was instructed to declare herself the winner. However, when the rural votes came in, where Marcos was still loved for the development he had brought to the Nation, Marcos overtook Aquino and won the election. In an astonishing public admission, former U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines William Sullivan (who had also been Ambassador to Iran when the Shah was overthrown by similar means in 1979), told CBS News on Feb. 9, two days after the Philippines election: “The facts as they emerge are becoming increasingly irrelevant, because it’s the perception that prevails both in the Philippines and, I think, internationally, that Mrs. Aquino won the election as far as the polling places were concerned, but the government, in the tabulation, changed the vote counts.”
As EIR had warned, General Ramos then led a military revolt against President Marcos, calling for crowds to surround the military base in the center of Manila, to create an image of “people’s power,” while the masses of the population were disenfranchised by the overthrow of their elected President. By the end of February, President Reagan had been convinced by Shultz to give up his defense of President Marcos, and endorse the military coup; Marcos and his family were sent to Hawaii.
The results of this subversion are still evident today in the decay of the economic and social fabric of the Philippines. Corazon Aquino fulfilled every IMF request, from the closure of the completed nuclear power facility to the deregulation and privatization of much of the economy. It was a surprise to some of Aquino’s supporters, when the pro-IMF members of the Marcos Cabinet were retained in the new government. General Ramos took over directly in the next Presidential election in 1992, selling the nation to the Enrons of the West through corrupt, unequal contract agreements, especially in the energy sector, which left the country in absolute bankruptcy after the speculative assault on the Asian economies in 1997-98. Joseph Estrada, another “commoner,” was elected President in 1998, but was allowed only two years in office before another “economic hit man”-orchestrated-coup again with General Ramos doing the bidding for his foreign controllers) brought him down in January 2001.
Thank you, Jim, for your comment. It nicely complements the article. Appreciate the fine and relevant details you’ve provided.
You know I just realized the article may be just too weak and subtle. I hold back quite a bit because my experience with Pinoy co-workers and employees is that when you are brutally frank and overbearing in tone, they mentally shutdown or just physically walk out on you. It was a cultural shock for me after getting back from the US.
But, there is a hard reality out there, it is a cruel world. It is about hard competition, about power plays that could suffocate you, intrigues that doesn’t allow you to sleep, and more importantly, about safeguarding one’s interest with all the intelligence and capability that one has. If Pinoys continue ignoring these things and maintain their easy and relaxing lives, always seeking entertainment, be complacent, melodramatic, apathetic, and mediocre, then Philippines will always be basketcase.
The biggest problem here, IMHO, is politics is never approached in business-like manner. This is why things are not nuanced as it should, which is why it could not go deeper, it stays on the surface, which in turn accounts for why it is personality-oriented. One very clear example of things not being nuanced are the leftist shouting all the time: US imperialism. That does not mean a thing at all because if one pursues that line, then one has to be either like North Korea, or just as recent before a couple of months ago, like Cuba or Iran. We are in an age of Pax Americana, one either denies that reality, or engage that reality, which means engaging with US. If one engages with the US, who in the US, because US itself is a competition of ideas, interests, power blocks, and capabilities. But, that is also why it is the strongest democracy; it is not just its military might, which is really a product of, which can’t be there without, its competing ideas, principles, and policies.
I think all countries, if they have the capability, have economic “hitmen”. I have just learned, for example, from a friend in the UN that China seems to be today very busy in trying to influence anything and everything in the international body. From NY to Geneva, the wining and dining that is going and that the Chinese spend on the different and critical UN personnel is unprecedented and incredible, she says.
The only reason we get hit by these US hitmen is because don’t have strategic positioning, we are too inward looking, but that is because we don’t approach things like business, and thus we don’t nuanced. Business is always about gaining strenght, and strenght does not necessarily have to start with money and arms. It has to be founded on the right principles, values, and good foresight. Most people are rational, and they can be reason out. If only Philippines just does this, I think we could have a lot of allies in the world in terms of countries, organizations, groups, interests, etc., and we won’t have to worry about hitmen. Unfortunately, Philippines does not have this thinking at the top level.
There is totally nothing wrong with having very, very selfish interest. In fact, the world operates on this basis. The market economy operates most of the time without guidance because there are competing self interest. Our leaders are not focused in the protection of our national interest because of the complacency and apathy of the public. I think it is time to be serious. Politics and foreign affairs are no joking matters. This is the biggest sin of the Yellows especially PNoy because they operated like they were managing a student council — that is of course assuming they have not been bought by foreign interest, which case could explain their lackadaisical ways and vacuous Daan Tuwid.
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That there were anti-nuclear groups behind Cory and EDSA1 is news to me. It explains a lot of things.
For me, two of the biggest blunders of Cory was mothballing the nuclear plant and paying the outstanding foreign debt. One can be anti-nuclear, but when a couple of billion dollars have already been sunk in a plant, it is most stupid not to operate it. South Korea has one exactly the same as the one of BNPP, and is so profitable. I could never understand this move of Cory. The high cost of electricity today has practically killed the manufacturing sector, and thus the high unemployment of today.
I believe right after EDSA1, US and European leaders, and even IMF, were telling Cory that it was okay and understandable if Philippines didn’t pay its foreign debt. Why she made a policy to pay them goes over sky-high my head. To this day, I am wondering who among her economic team made a bundle of commissions for acting as collecting agents for the banks and financial institutions. Even at 2% commission, that would a lotttttt of money.
These two blunders had double, triple, 10x, whammy on the economy. It’s adverse impact on the development is probably incalculable.
>> The only reason we get hit by these US hitmen is because don’t have strategic positioning, we are too inward looking, but that is because we don’t approach things like business, and thus we don’t nuanced.
Correct. Jim is right that Marcos built a lot of stuff … with borrowed money that the Philippine economy couldn’t support. AFAIK about 30% of the country’s GDP still goes on debt servicing. Countries that don’t put themselves in this ridiculous position don’t get “hit”. It’s that simple.
As you suggest, the Philippines should probably just default on its debt. I believe Cory didn’t do so because the country’s agricultural sector is a complete shambles, and will remain so for the foreseeable future. The blowback from a debt default would have caused enough food-price instability to get her instantly kicked out of power, or worse.
@ Marius, You are correct, BUT:Take Greece for example: The leaders of the Greek Government/President are approached by German Corporations with bags of money in hand and secret accounts in Switzerland and they tel the Greek leaders to buy Tanks and armaments that they can never possibly afford. They bankrupt the country, get paid for selling out their fellow countrymen and the society gets to live in 3rd world conditions once the IMF and World Bank step in ‘save the day’, LOL!!! Its a scam that has been run in countless countries in one form or another and always involves bags of money and corrupt politicians….and the avg. person is always screwed !
Very apt comparison, Ummagumma. Yes, it’s all a scam. But those leaders don’t do the deals with the World Bank an the IMF secretly in a back room. The citizenry are complicit, because SOME of the money gets spent on “free” stuff for them. For a few years, the average idiot gets to live waaay beyond his means, and pretend he lives in a developed country. People still love Marcos because of all the goodies he handed out.
The next generation, of course, have to deal with the consequences when it all turns to shit.
Hi Jim. Can you share the source of that information you just posted? Thanks.
Most of it is in the ‘Economic ‘HIT MEN’ book by a guy named Perkins. He was part of something he did not completely understand. That is to say that the one hand doesn’t know what the other is doing, so you only get half the story.
The ‘HITMEN’ work for people they do not even know employ them,its not the CIA.
Cynicism is what passes for insight when courage is lacking.
One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.
how true, how true. And, that is exactly what’s happening.
In addition to what was already said about that time period, Marcos in my opinion had to declare Martial Law at 1972. What was happening around the world in 1972?
– Cold War was still ongoing
– The Cultural Revolution in China is still ongoing there.
– Vietnam War (The effects of this particular war was very much understated by our media)
– The Soviets and the US having nuclear weapons tests.
– KGB, CIA, MI6 and other agents being anywhere at that time (although it seems that KGB has infiltrated more)
– Khmer Rouge
– Israel vs her neighbors
It was not a time of peace around the world at that time, and without Martial Law, who knows what would have happened.
Before this gets taken out of context, I am not in anyway condoning the abuses that happened during Martial Law, what I am saying is that there was a reason why Martial Law had to be declared.
The soldiers and policemen may have been a bit overzealous in their implementation. No way you can pin all the blame on one man.
Yeah, I don’t think Marcos was that powerful compared to the truly despicable dictators (ie. Amin, Stalin, Pol Pot, and Papa Doc). If Marcos was as powerful as the media claim he is, he would have liquidated his critics.
What I meant was, if Marcos was that powerful, then ALL of his crtics would have been liquidated.
And that reason is that Philippines is a. Rey strategic location of the American fight to control communism in Vietnam..Like before , Philippines is the coal storage of American strategy in Asia…it must be preserved and Marcos is the key to preserved it..it is a done deal..that is why martial has to be declared. It is evident in all countries that America needs..
Philippines back then is merely a pawn between the power struggle between USA, China, and the Soviet Union, and still is unfortunately (between China and USA)
Marcos wanted to move the country forward and he knew that his hands were tied because of all the coconuts in Congress and in the Senate. At that time our dear Congressman and Senators were sitting around and drinking Whiskey. How can anything ever move forward here when everyone thinks his opinion is the right one, while they are in fact morons. Anyone thinks farmers would have ever gotten land back without ML? Marcos knew that very well. He wanted a cultural revolution here. What was built during martial law? What was built since?
I rest my case.
@Jim: I actually agree with you. I’ve been to Ilocos, and have seen what the Marcoses have done. It is a very beautiful place. In a way, Marcos is like King Solomon (he was surrounded by his wives, and Marcos, by the morons in the Senate and the Congress)
Completely forgot about this. I have heard from my father that Ninoy was actually Marcos’ successor, since Marcos himself knew that his days are numbered (due to his sickness), and that he should have waited for Marcos’ signal before going back to the Philippines. Is this true, or was it just rumors?
And if this is true, then I have a theory that the assassination of Ninoy was actually done by the Conjuangcos. (Just a theory though)
Someone powerfull enough has done it to Ninoy Aquino..Imelda and Ver went to America to plead to Ninoy Aquino not to come back because they said , some powerfull people people want to assassinate him, he knows it but he still not afraid..so Imelda and Ver and Marcos knew who they were…who benefited after Ninoy got assassinated..Is it America?????? ….. Ninoy was briefed in Washingtin before he flew back…aside from that who benefited…they are the one who mastermind it…Marcos stayed in Power…..He did,not step down till he was about to get lynched Why did America not let him get hanged by the people’s power…hmmmmmmmm….very fishy indeed..is it because . Marcos beg to get away….who benefited from Ninoy aquinos assassination…is it the miscalculation of Marcos about the brewing anger of the Filipinos…..I just hope that brewing anger is also the same now and ready to explode…this opera drama of political dynasties in the Philippines has to stop.
Imelda still has a handwritten letter sent by Ninoy, thanking her and her family for shouldering his medical expenses in the states.
The idea that Imelda was behind his assassination is just preposterous and can only be blindly accepted by people who know nothing about what was going on at the time.
@ Cezar, The avg. Filipino is still trying to figure out who murdered Ninoy Aquino. It just goes to show how truly clueless almost the entire population of the country are. It is really just bizzarro, that it is plain to see,right in front of them…and yet they still do not see.
Thank you, MMS, for widening the context.
The horrors of Soviet and Chinese communism then (and North Korean death-worship then and now) were (and are) indeed real.
The horrors of authoritarian regimes propped up by American money and arms were (and are) even more real.
The horrors proposed by the domino effect — that all of Asia would be engulfed by the Soviet menace once South Vietnam fell — that was the opposite of real.
Today, you could say that with 5by5 vision, not when that history was still unfolding.
Oh really?
When Castro took over Cuba, did communism spread all over the Caribbean? Evidently not, even at the peak of Soviet involvement immediately after the revolution.
That alone should’ve been evidence aplenty — and evidence close at hand — that even the communist and socialist regimes that emerged during the Cold War were primarily nationalistic, that they didn’t pledge permanent fealty (or even temporary fealty) to the USSR.
And yet the USA went on plotting against the guy for the next few decades. Not to mention try and overthrow at least another one, successfully oust a socialist government (Allende ring a bell?), and withhold support from a few others, just as they were in the midst of nation-building activities.
But maybe if I were alive then, maybe I wouldn’t have known any of these. Maybe I would’ve concluded that Communism was a world-engulfing dogma — but then I wouldn’t have had the chance to know otherwise, to determine for myself that leaders the US overthrew in favor of authoritarian regimes that could do bidness with them, from Mossadegh through Allende, only wanted the chance to reform their country along more equitable lines, more just lines. Maybe I would’ve surmised that every form of government that didn’t dance to Washington’s tune was hitherto a communist one.
Maybe this is what you meant by me looking at this with hindsight? Biased news outlets and all that?
Correct me if I’m wrong, but the Vietnam War was the first major war that the USA lost post WWII? Maybe that is a major factor for the subsequent events that happened afterwards?
@ Pallercircus, You do not know what you are talking about.
It’s Pallacertus.
When you say I don’t know what I’m talking about, what exactly do you mean?
All the Philippine Presidents, were subjected to pressure and manipulation from the Powers in Washington D.C., U.S.A. It seems that the former U.S. colonizer, cannot just leave the Philippines, alone.
Just see how Aquino, violated the Philippine Constitution, by allowing U.S. troops , to stay in the Philippines.
If Aquino would had denied the U.S. demand; he would had been overthrown; taken to the U.S., like Panama’s Noriega; and subjected to a “Kangaroo Court Trial”…Aquino would had been rotting in U.S. jail now…
The other colonizer is knocking at your door which is China…you just wonder what is good for the Filipino people…China or USA….I had my choice…I am living here now with my family safe and happy…You in the Philippines has a problem and I feel sorry for the Filipinos.
noriega was a drug dealer.
wow….blame the US and none of this is our fault line huh?
come on this line is as old and wrong as seeing the marcos years as a golden age and edsa as a revolution that brought true democracy
People should indeed know that the Edsa Revolution started out as a coup d’etat by Enrile, Ramos and Honasan. It was botched and they were about to be caught, but Cardinal Sin helped them out by calling civilians to act as shields. It worked, some military guys defected, and so it went the way it did. Of course, one should know another thing: the people who went to Edsa 1 were mostly middle class, and some upper crust. The poor and marginalized were never represented there.
Hmm, something interesting from Rigoberto Tiglao, although you might find “unquestionable integrity” somewhat a satirical appellation.
Thanks, Chino. Interesting indeed.
Muck Farcos, along all the revisionists of history.
I offer a better quote from George Santayana:
“Those who ignore, deny, defy, {the facts and realities} of history are DOOMED to repeat their (past) mistakes.
All these post mortem paralysis-analysis (3257 unresolved salvagings, 70,000 unjustified political incarcerations, over 100,000 persecutions for disagreeing with the tyranny and conjugal dictatorship of Muck U. Farcos, and you too, Imeldific) are surreptitious attempts at trying to get Bongbong Marcos elected as Vice President. Fortunately, it ain’t gonna happen.
Jojo Binay will be the next president of the Philippines. And The Bongbong will not be the next Vice President. Look ahead. Move forward. Getting along. Going along. Muck U. Farcos and his dynasty, and all his “dating tuta, and blue ladies, are panay matatanda ng ulianin at naging mga asong ulol… Dey all iz history.
As for the “tragi-comedy Senator Miriam”…she should heed the advise of her doctors…”Pagaling ka muna, Beybi, Stage 4 ka na…and it is an illusion that anybody suffering and battling Stage 4 Lung Cancer”,will suddenly recover completely…and be healthy enough to take on the presidency of the Philippines. But this PR plot and propaganda is quite obyus in its intent…If Miriam wins…she would serve for a very limited time, precisely because of health issues. Then, as it is said, since the vice presidency is only a heartbeat away from the presidency…The Bongbong, na anak ti Batac, can step in and assume the presidency. The Muck U. Farcos self-filling, self-aggrandizing enigmatic illusion…
Reality is…Jojo Binay will be the next president-elect…So Miriam, you should listen to your Doctor’s advice…or just stop clowning around. To beat Jojo Binay…you need at least 20 millions of the votes in Elections 2016. And getting the Visayas and the solid north vote together…just are not enough.
And the resurrection of Muck Farcos comes to an end here. He will never be given a hero’s burial sa Libingan ng mga Bayani…which is clearly, the first item in the Bongbong’s agenda; followed by his objection to having Peengoyngoy be charged for multi-level, multi-sectoral violations of the Constitution.
Move forward…MAKE HISTORY…not revise the past for purely political reasons. Il fait acompli. Est consummatus est.
Here’s the mistake Filipinos continue to make: vote for the lesser evil.
Either you vote for track record, achievements and performance instead or lesser evil which will backfire and send you back to more evil.
Show us the track record of your candidate. Let’s vet him or her.
@Pepton, don’t you find it interesting that a Marocs is telling the people of the country to MOVE-ON and asking the people to elect him at the same time? Are Filipino’s stupid enough to not see the irony in that statement?
This guy and his mentally ill partner are about as slick and FOS as anyone ever to do the bidding of the oligarchs.
it will serve Filipino’s right if they elect this jackal and zombified mess of a mental patient.(BBM & MDS)
If you are talking about the son of ‘anak ti Batac’…yes. And Pilipinos, by and large, see through the irony you call.
The question to ask is…simple. What qualifications and experiences does The Bongbong have, that promises to make him a good leader and president of the Philippines.
Name some of his personal qualities as a leader. Let’s hear it.
I’m pretty certain after 6 years, you will be posting a comment (even a blog), complaining about the atrocities the Binays have committed.
@ JTP, that is a certainty. The past repeats itself in the Fail-ippines because the people fail to act in a solidified way and tell the puppets robbing the country that they need to leave the country or be prosecuted/imprisoned and then elect a smart business oriented person to get the country rolling !
Guys, please take a look at this link >>> Declare these ambassadors personae non-grata, October 16, 2015 Manila Times >> http://goo.gl/7epCdm
Ambassadors of 18 countries signed a petition pushing for the passage of BBL. Imagine that. Sonamagan.
Now, what are we going to do? Let’s see, either PNoy organized this petition to pressure Congress and the public, or it was the US.
We all know that the BBL idea came from the US. It started at the time of Amb Kristie Kenney, who shuttled back and forth between ARMM and Manila until they got the MOA-AD done. GMA signed it, but Supreme Court threw it out as unconstitutional. Immediately, GMA distanced herself away from the project, and we thought it was dead in the water.
PNoy comes along and, most likely under the pressure of US, resurrects the idea, but this time under a different guise, so they call it BBL, and the US Ambassador stays in the background; Kenney’s high profile effort being burned earlier.
Most thinking Filipino have already seen that BBL will eventually result in the Philippines being split into two countries, the same as the two-nation solution being pushed to solve the Palestinian problem in Israel. We don’t want that kind of solution to our own Muslim problem.
So, why would US do this to us, an ally? Let us pretend we are DC, and guess what benefit could US derive from such move.
1. Philippine is our historical ally, but it is weak. When push turns to shove, it is very dangerous, quite fatal, to depend on a weak partner. US could lose its advantage on two vital issues: (1) the sea lane in the South China Sea, and (2) participation in the exploration and eventual drilling of the oil reserve near Palawan.
2. Philippine government is too corrupt, and we have already spent too much in fine dining, and yet they keep on questioning VFA every time they want expensive dinners. They could strengthen themselves by moving towards federalism, but they have been dragging their feet.
3. They now have the most stupid President, so we better make sure BBL is passed by December when everybody is caught up in the election fever and Christmas, and nobody will pay attention if BBL is put in a Shinkansen in Congress.
4. With BBL, we suddenly have two historical allies. If one is weak, there is the possibility the other could be strong. We could pit them together in a competition whenever necessary. Since they have smaller constituents to manage, maybe they could finally get their acts together and both could be strong. In any event, divide and conquer always works. Instead of continually questioning VFA, they will now compete with each other on who gets a VFA.
5. If all above doesn’t work, then we scratch them off; firm up our partnership with China with zero participation for Philippines, and feed them more Aldub and daradubdub.
So, let me just pursue some more what I already said in my reply to Jim above.
1. MidwayHaven’s last article is very timely. We need a constitutional change like yesterday. The next president will have to move on this like the next day after he takes his oath. We have to move Federalism in a Shinkansen.
2. If above ideas are coming from the Democratic Party, then by golly, we better have as many allies as we can with the Republican Party in order to oppose such ideas. Or, vice-versa. We have to be invested in our lobbying efforts in DC so that they see our interests our way, not their way.
3. Let us not fool around with this coming election. There are so much things going on that need strong and thinking leadership. Gosh, we have lost a lot of ground with the present incompetence who does nothing but window dress economic figures. We are in a precarious bubble economy which I think they will allow to collapse if the next administration is unfriendly. Problem is if next admin is also about Daan Tuwad, the more we are dead ducks.
4. Foreign Affairs is vital. Candidates will have to already name their intended appointee to the DFA Secretary even while campaigning. Presidential debate must topics: (1) West Philippine Sea, (2) their philosophy about education, (3) unemployment and agriculture (4) how to make Philippines a technological hub AGAIN, and (5) Lumad, Muslim, and mining policies — these 3 are interconnected, can be one topic. (the guy who says he could convert Sulu, Basilan, and Zamboanga into a Free Trade Zone without need of BBL, with aims of competing with Labuan, if not Hong Kong, gets my vote immediately. Best way of stopping the splitting of the country into two.)
On the issue of asking Bongbong Marcos to apologize for his parents, I agree, it doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t make not because we’re Asians but because he has nothing to do with what his father did. Why apologize for something he has nothing to do with? Ramos and Enrile (and other remnants of the Marcos regime) who were martial architects were not asked to apologize for the dictator. Why would the son who was even a toddler/teenager at the time his father ruled with an iron fist?
Of course, he can apologize and that would still be within what being an Asian is. Admitting something that is a fact. But of course, he will not and should not because it will really do no good for him or his family except as a sound bite for those who wants to make him dance to their music.
EDSA a power grab? I don’t think so. You cannot grab something that was stolen from you. Marcos stayed too long to the detriment of the country and no one can dispute that. No power grab is possible against a dictator who up to the last minute has Washington’s support.
Let Aquino apologize also for the crimes of Benigno Aquino, Sr.; during the Japanese Militarist occupation. Aquino, Sr. ‘s KALIBAPI Party murdered and tortured Filipino Guerrillas, during World War II. They even raped many Filipino women.
Thanks, janico and Hayden, I think I will have to borrow your ideas the next time the question, why BBM shouldn’t apologize, comes around.
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If we can’t call it power grab, we can’t call it also a revolution. That means we have to look for better words to best describe it accurately.
In my book, if no blood is spilled, it’s not a revolution. Uprising?
If we can’t call it power grab, we can’t call it also a revolution. That means we have to look for better words to best describe it accurately.
========
The problem in calling it a power grab was that there is a tinge of partiality on the party the power was ‘grabbed’ from. In other words, power grab is the term we expect the Marcos loyalists or pro-Marcos people will call EDSA 1. For them, there was no rejection of their idol hence it’s a power grab. However, we all know that at that time had Marcos abruptly resigned from his post the country will be in jubilation because he really overstayed his watch and the people are simply just sick and tired of him. Remember about the joke before the election that if a dog runs against Marcos the people will vote for the dog?
Take note, the attempt by the Marcos loyalists and the Honasan-wing of the RAM to wrest power from Cory Aquino after EDSA is an act of power grab.
While I’ll be the first to admit that Edsa 1 was not a complete revolution I’m still calling it as one because there was an overthrow of an existing order/system that has been rejected and repulsed by the majority with increasing intensity since the killing of Ninoy Aquino.
However, it was an incomplete revolution because there was no ‘cleansing’ or total removal of the status quo or complete erasure of the prevailing system. There was no trial or execution of people who were convicted of crimes against the people like what happened in other countries (Cambodia or Iran, for example). The oligarchs and the trapos in the Marcos era was just replaced by the oligachs and trapos in the incoming administration. It’s a game of musical chairs with a new host. Same old, same old. : (
The political drama in the Philippines is side show . BBL is a done deal . Mindanao and the Muslims will be stop his turmoil and will be quiet with bribe money . Mindanao with Malaysia and the rest if ASEAN will unite with Japan and Australia against China . It issential for peace in the region . If not China will take over as a dominant power in the region and this is bad . A possibility of 3rd world war will be Un avoidable .
If what you say is true, that would be an unhappy development to say the least. What is happening can’t be a side show, otherwise the 18 ambassadors won’t be signing that petition. I think we have all the fighting chance to stop it if Congress does it right, and BBM did the right thing, but the public has to keep its vigilance.
Thanks Add. A concise gist to drive the final nails on the coffin of this so-called “EDSA revolution”.
Many Filipinos when challenged by the question “what has the Phl contributed to the world?” would proudly answer “People power”.
It’s a sad day in Phil history when people realize that those “golden moments of victory” we’re nothing but a sham.
I do hope your message sinks into hearts of The populace.
PS: you might want to reconsider your “book”. Restricting this kind of material to the limited audience / time window here is like “sayang naman”. Having read Calixto Chikiamco’s “the way forward”, I realize it was just a patchwork of simply collating his many commentary articles written though the years.
All you need is a grad student in political sci to serve as your free secretary to collate all your works and a publisher. If you don’t earn money, at least you changed a nation.
Cheers! – zaxx
Great article by the way Add. History should never be taken at face value, for everything can be spun by spin doctors.
What people forgot about the latter years of Marcos’ presidency was that his health was rapidly deteriorating. Marcos of 1972 and Marcos of 1982 looked completely different, as if he aged rapidly.
What Marcos should have done in my opinion was to put the power in the hands of someone he can trust while he was recovering, but he didn’t. Why? I have no idea.
He did put the power in the hands of Imelda and to his cousin Favian Ver.The out come is catastrophic.
Oh, ok thanks for the clarification
MMS, because Marcos did not trust ANYONE. Even his own family had no idea what he was doing. This is also one of the reasons why money is still missing. It’s not because the Marcos family is sitting on it. It’s because no one knows where the old man was hiding it. The winners as usual, are the banks.
Thanks Jim. Was his sickness during the latter years of his Presidency the same one that eventually claimed his life?
@ J DiGriz, That is not true,IMELDA knows exactly where it is and has all,or most, of it.Go on youtube.com and you can see her openly bragging about ‘170 foreign bank accounts stuuffed with CA$H’ that is not rightfully hers or her families.